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When Did Steve Austin Become “Stone Cold?”

Published 03/12/2022, 1:30 PM EST

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Stone Cold Steve Austin is arguably the greatest WWE superstar and pro-wrestler to ever step foot in the squared circle. He has been retired from in-ring action for almost 20 years, but his popularity has not diminished one bit. The name Stone Cold Steve Austin is a name that will always be in every WWE fan’s mind.

Austin is a once-in-a-lifetime superstar. All of his wrestling attributes matched perfectly with his gimmick. His style of wrestling, entrance theme, talking skills were all came into mind perfectly when someone said Stone Cold Steve Austin.

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How did Steve Austin come up with “Stone Cold”?

All the wrestling universe knows about Stone Cold and his splendid matches and segments from the Attitude era. However, it’s still unknown by many wrestling fans how did the words Stone Cold was started using by The Rattlesnake.

The Rattlesnake wrestled in WCW under the name “Stunning” Steve Austin. After leaving Ted Turner’s company, Austin started performing in ECW as “Superstar” Steve Austin. When he debuted in WWE in 1996, he was introduced as The Ringmaster and was awarded the Million Dollar Championship.

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After some time, Austin thought The Ringmaster gimmick was becoming weak. He had a meeting with Vince McMahon and he agreed to a name change. They gave Austin several names to choose from but none of them matched his gimmick. Ice Dagger, Otto von Ruthless, and Fang Mcfrost were some names suggested.

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However, once Austin was sitting on his couch searching for a new nickname, his then-wife Jennie Clarke came to him with a hot cup of tea. While leaving, Jennie asked Austin to drink the tea before it got ‘Stone Cold.’

The name perfectly matched and Austin since then became Stone Cold Steve Austin. Further with the new name and gimmick, Austin became one of the biggest names in pro-wrestling history.

What other names did Stone Cold Steve Austin use?

Before landing in WWE and calling himself “Stone Cold Steve Austin”, The Rattlesnake went through a lot of names in different companies.

Initially, Austin worked under his real name, Steven Williams. They later changed his name to Steve Austin in United States Wrestling Association (USWA). 

Austin wrestled as ‘Stunning’ Steve Austin in WCW and ‘Superstar’ Steve Austin in ECW. Austin has claimed that he started his Stone Cold gimmick development in ECW under the mentorship of Paul Heyman, who also taught him to cut some of the best promos.

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What’s next for Stone Cold Steve Austin?

Stone Cold has accepted the invitation of Kevin Owens to appear at WrestleMania 38. The announcement shocked the WWE Universe as one of the greats is coming back.

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Austin was seen doing an intense cardio workout this week. But it is unclear whether Austin is appearing just on the KO Show or will have a match at WrestleMania 38. We have to wait till the Mania to find the answer to the question.

Stone Cold Steve Austin Announces WWE Return to Defend the Pride of Texas: “In Dallas, Texas, Where I Started My Career..”

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Written by:

Tushar Deogharkar

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Tushar Deogharkar is a WWE writer at EssentiallySports. Tushar has done his Master's in Tourism Management and is an ardent fan of pro wrestling. He follows WWE and AEW very closely and wants to learn how the promotions are run.
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